New Angle On Nanango Parking Woes

20140722 Parking bays — This is NOT how the parking bays in Drayton Street, Nanango, should look … the home-painted angled bays have since been painted over (Photo: Jane Erkens)

Street Cams May Catch ‘Vandals’South Burnett Councillor Damien Tessmann said the people who painted in the parking bays could be facing serious consequences.

Cr Tessmann said police had been contacted and there was the possibility there could be video of the incident.

“Cameras on the traffic lights will most likely have picked up something,” he said.

“The perpetrators are on notice. Provisions in the Traffic Act have been broken and it is vandalism of a public asset. There could be serious repercussions.”

Cr Tessmann said the barriers Council had erected had also been stolen.

He said the safety issues were “just too great” to have angled parking along the street.

“You could see that on Tuesday morning. There was a truck parked there and its backside was right out into the traffic,” he said. “It would be a recipe for disaster.”

Cr Tessmann said the parking issue was why Council had gone to so much expense with the Scott Car Park, purchasing more land, resurfacing the area and installing shade sails.

He asked residents to be patient, saying $900,000 had been set aside for the Nanango streetscape in today’s Council Budget.

July 25, 2014

Enterprising Nanango residents, sick of waiting for upgrades to Drayton Street, this week decided to paint in their own angled parking bays outside local shops.

The roughly painted lines appeared overnight on Monday.

Not surprisingly, council quickly blocked off the area with barriers and the offending lines were later painted over.

Nanango businesswoman Jane Erkens said the incident reflected local businesspeople’s frustration with delays to the Nanango CBD upgrade.

She said the original plans, shown to residents before the makeover commenced, showed angled parking bays and a leafy green streetscape.

But instead, the few plants that had been in Drayton Street – Nanango roses – had been removed and concrete had been installed where the gardens had been indicated.

Ms Erkens said she had now heard the angled parking bays would not be happening, either.

“We were told that it was going to be green with little shrubs,” she said.

“What are they going to do, dig up the concrete they’ve put in?

“The original plan also showed angled parking (to replace the lost bays in the centre of the road) but afterwards they discovered it was too narrow.”

She said the lost parking spaces were hurting local businesses because people could no longer pull up for a short time and pop into a shop.

The original plans had also shown cobbled walkways, she said; these had been laid as just plain concrete.

Ms Erkens questioned whether anyone from the South Burnett Regional Council had consulted with Main Roads before the plans were drawn up or if they were just pretty drawings.

“I think it was a figment of their imagination,” she said.

“Obviously the plans we were originally shown are not going to happen.”

She said she had heard new plans were being drawn up.

Ms Erkens suggested that if this is being done, a little space be taken off the footpaths to enable the angled bays to be re-instated.

Nanango streetscaping — How Nanango’s CBD upgrade was originally imagined … looking down Drayton Street from Fitzroy to Henry streets

Council

One Response to "New Angle On Nanango Parking Woes"

Graham Vercoe says:

July 30, 2014 at 6:36 am

How anyone can describe the redevelopment of Nanango as an improvement is beyond me. Look at the artist’s perspective and compare it to the reality. The powers that be have turned a charming rural town into an ill-thought out abortion conceived by “town planners” sitting at a PC. Pity they don’t have to see it at work – just watch at the traffic lights for a few minutes to see how NOT to improve an intersection.